RED SOX NOTEBOOK: Allen Craig released

The 32-year-old Craig last appeared in the major leagues for the Red Sox late in the 2015 season. He spent the last season-plus at Triple-A Pawtucket.

Brian MacPherson, The Providence Journal

TORONTO – Just shy of three years since the ill-advised trade that brought him to Boston from St. Louis, the Red Sox have released Allen Craig.

The 32-year-old Craig last appeared in the major leagues for the Red Sox late in the 2015 season. He spent the last season-plus at Triple-A Pawtucket but never came close to recapturing the form that twice earned him National League MVP votes. Craig, who even then was hobbled by a foot injury, was considered by Boston coaches the most dangerous hitter in the St. Louis roster during the 2013 World Series.

On the same day in 2014 that the Red Sox traded Jon Lester for Yoenis Cespedes and Andrew Miller for Eduardo Rodriguez, Craig came over from St. Louis with Joe Kelly in exchange for John Lackey. Then-Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington targeted Cespedes and Craig in addition to $72.5 million international free agent Rusney Castillo as a reaction to a run-scoring environment across Major League Baseball that had seen scoring drop to its lowest level since 1981. Cherington doubled down on the strategy that winter when he signed free agents Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval.

Rather than run-scoring continuing to fall, however, a spike in home runs across baseball saw run-scoring begin to rise. Big-league hitters are hitting almost 50 percent more home runs per game this season than they hit in 2014.

And while Cespedes was traded to Detroit for Rick Porcello, Cherington’s other offense-minded acquisitions of that period all flopped to varying degrees. Castillo remains buried in Pawtucket. Sandoval is in limbo, a near-certainty to be let go once Boston finds a replacement via trade. Ramirez remains Boston’s primary designated hitter but has started to see his playing time diminish.

Boston’s hope at the time of the trade was that Craig’s subpar first half in 2014 – he’d hit just .237 with a .346 slugging percentage in 97 games for the Cardinals – was a mere blip, caused by a foot injury. It instead represented the beginning of the end. The $27 million the Red Sox will have paid Craig by the time the team’s commitment to him ends after this season will go down as a net negative. He appeared in just 65 games for the Red Sox and hit .139 with a .197 slugging percentage.

Craig hit .173 with a .280 slugging percentage in an injury-marred 2016 season with the PawSox and had hit .253 with a .316 slugging percentage in 47 games this season.

Rodriguez update: Eduardo Rodriguez traveled to Toronto with the Red Sox late Thursday night and will throw a bullpen session on Saturday. When he next takes the ball in a game – and with which team – remains to be seen.

Rodriguez threw 69 pitches in three innings in a rehab start for Double-A Portland on Thursday, striking out three without issuing a walk but also yielding six runs (five earned) on nine hits. Though the extent of the contact he allowed was alarming – “He was a little surprised at the aggressiveness in the way they swung the bat against him,” a bemused Sox manager John Farrell said – the strength and stability he felt in his knee was far more significant.

If Rodriguez is ready to return to the Red Sox rotation, Farrell and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski might have a decision to make. The proximity of the All-Star break – after Friday night’s game, Boston had just nine games left in the first half – could give the Red Sox a chance to try to work Rodriguez back into the mix while still hanging onto newcomer Doug Fister for at least one more turn.

Farrell deferred that conversation at least until Saturday, perhaps giving himself a chance to watch Fister pitch once more before he made any decisions about the next step for Rodriguez.

Youth serves Sox: In post-Steroid Era baseball, a time when older players are having more trouble staying healthy than ever, Boston’s dynamic young lineup offers a distinct advantage.

Seven Red Sox players appeared in at least 145 games last season, most by any big-league team since the 2013 Baltimore Orioles. No team has ever had more than seven players appear in at least 140 games.

Farrell’s Red Sox have little chance of repeating the feat this year given the time that key players like Jackie Bradley Jr. and Dustin Pedroia already have missed with injuries. But young cornerstones Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts have been as reliable as ever, each appearing in at least 75 of Boston’s first 79 games, entering play Friday.

Bogaerts had played every inning of every game since April 22. The only games he has missed this season came when he traveled to Aruba after a death in his family in early April and then couldn’t get back.

What Farrell saw from Bogaerts this week suggested that his shortstop needed a day off his feet. He got that day Friday, giving way at shortstop to rookie Tzu-Wei Lin.

“It’s a well-deserved day off for him today,” Farrell said.

Dust-up: David Price had a confrontation with Hall of Fame pitcher and NESN analyst Dennis Eckersley on the Red Sox flight to Toronto on Thursday night, the Boston Globe reported Friday. The reason for the confrontation was unknown.

It’s the second such confrontation between Price and a media member that has become public this season. Price unleashed a profane tirade on a Comcast SportsNet reporter at Yankee Stadium earlier this month that was audible to other reporters nearby.

Brian MacPherson may be reached at bmacpherson@providencejournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @brianmacp

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